WSOP.com NJ Review

Launched in 2013, WSOP.com NJ is one of the three major online poker sites in New Jersey. With competition from Borgata and PokerStars NJ, the site doesn't have the market share of its sister site in Nevada, but it does have the same MTT schedule and satellites into official WSOP bracelet events in Las Vegas.

Considering WSOP.com is one of the largest brands in the world of live poker tournaments, many Garden State citizens were excited when it set up shop in New Jersey on Nov. 21, 2013. While their launch can be considered a success, the site quickly began to suffer from low traffic – an issue that all NJ-based poker networks struggle with to this day.

In 2015, WSOP.com signed a partnership deal with 888poker, creating the shared WSOP.com/888 network that we know today. Along with Party/Borgata, this network enjoyed a duopoly on the New Jersey internet poker market. The situation changed drastically with the launch of PokerStars NJ in 2016. Nowadays, WSOP.com/888 is still considered a major NJ network, but the days of it being the biggest kid on the block seem to be over.

How to sign-up for WSOP.com NJ

Signing up for a WSOP.com NJ account isn’t a complicated process. Simply download the client application from the website, fill out the registration form, and that’s basically it. However, you won’t be able to complete this process from outside of New Jersey, as WSOP.com will redirect you to its play-money site instead of the real-money client.

It’s also worth noting that the client suite includes a geolocation plugin. Your internet connection has to be set-up in a way that won’t interfere with its proper functioning. If the plugin fails to confirm that you’re indeed connecting to the network from within the borders of New Jersey, you will be prevented from joining any real money games.

Finally, it’s worth remembering that while 888poker NJ and WSOP.com NJ share the same network, they are completely different entities. You can’t use an 888poker NJ account to log-in to WSOP.com NJ, and vice versa.

WSOP.com NJ sign-up bonuses

WSOP.com NJ has a shared player pool with 888poker NJ, but their welcome offer here is completely different. New WSOP.com NJ customers can take advantage of a 100 percent matched deposit bonus worth up to $400 and get $100 in Welcome Week Freeroll tickets.

100% matched deposit bonus, up to $400

This bonus can be claimed on your first deposit. Its size is capped at $400, which means that even if you make a very larger payment, $400 is the maximum you can receive. The rate at which this bonus is released changes as you continue to accrue Action Player Points (APPs):

First $10 – released at a rate of $1 per 10 APPs earned

Next $40 – released at a rate of $5 per 50 APPs earned

Final $35 – released at a rate of $10 per 100 APPs earned

Players earn APPs a rate of two points per $1 spent on rake and fees. This means that regardless of the chunk of the bonus you’re clearing, you always get a 20 percent rakeback deal – similar to 888poker NJ. The only difference is that 888poker allows you to claim up to $1,500 in bonus cash, so if you’re planning on making a large deposit, you’re going to get significantly less bang for your buck over at WSOP.com NJ.

Welcome Week Freerolls

This offer allows first-time depositors to earn seven $100 freeroll tickets, which expire in seven days. These freerolls are available exclusively to new WSOP.com NJ customers, so even intermediate MTT players have a real shot at finishing in the money multiple times.

If you consider yourself a good tournament player and you don’t want to exceed WSOP.com’s bonus limit by a large margin, picking it over 888’s package would quite likely be the optimal move.

WSOP.com NJ traffic overview

Despite the fact that 888poker NJ and WSOP.com NJ share the same player pool, some of the games hosted on these poker sites are brand-exclusive. The aforementioned Welcome Freerolls are a good example of this policy in practice.

Fortunately, this doesn’t apply to major weekend tournaments and low-limit cash games. Nevertheless, you should keep in mind that the numbers don’t accurately reflect the situation on the network in the same way that they do for PokerStars NJ or even Party/Borgata.

Cash traffic

The seven-day average for active cash game players usually doesn’t exceed 90, but even on bad weeks, it’s unlikely to dip below 80. Traffic generally tends to reach its peak between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Eastern Time, but you should keep in mind that these numbers aren’t as consistent as in the case of PokerStars.

On most evenings, the number of active players falls in the 180-250 range. Most of them focus exclusively on low-stake No-Limit Hold’em. All in all, the WSOP.com/888 network accounts for roughly 30 percent of the total cash game traffic in New Jersey.

Tournament traffic

WSOP.com NJ has a solid tournament lineup. The largest events are available to 888poker NJ customers as well, even though the network doesn’t pull the same weekend numbers that PokerStars NJ and Party/Borgata do.

The first November $215 WSOP.com/888 Warrior tournament is a perfect example. It attracted 205 players and featured a $41,000 prize pool. Meanwhile, PokerStars’ counterpart boasted 254 entries and a $47,244 prize pool. Party/Borgata’s equivalent MTT also outperformed WSOP.COM’s event, attracting 221 players who competed for $44,200 in prize money.

WSOP.com NJ games

WSOP.vom NJ runs on Dragonfish, the proprietary poker software developed by 888 Holdings. However, just like in the case of 888poker NJ, the number of supported poker variants is slightly lower than what can be found on the global 888poker platform.

The WSOP.com/888 network was essentially “down-scaled” and stripped of game modes which didn’t work well with NJ’s small player pool, such as fast-fold poker. Cash games aside, if a poker variant is available in the lobby, it probably sees some action on a relatively regular basis.

WSOP.com NJ cash games

About 90 percent of WSOP.com NJ’s cash game action centers around No-Limit Hold’em. You might find one or two active Omaha tables from time to time, but if you prefer PLO to NLHE, you should definitely consider switching over to PokerStars NJ – the local Omaha community favors it over other NJ-licensed sites.

Hold’em

When it comes to No-Limit Hold’em, stakes range from $0.01/$0.02 to $50/100, but most regulars congregate around the low-limit tables. For example, $0.50/$1 tends to be the cut-off point for full-ring play, but finding a heads-up opponent shouldn’t be all that hard if you’re looking for some high-stakes action. Fixed-Limit Hold’em is theoretically supported and even appears in the lobby. However, there are no tables listed under this category due to this poker variant’s low popularity.

Omaha

The WSOP.com/888 network does not receive a lot of Omaha traffic, even during peak traffic hours. You might find one or two tables running after 6 p.m., but if you’re planning on becoming an Omaha regular, WSOP.com NJ is not the place to do it. For Pot-Limit Omaha, the stakes range from $0.02/$0.04 to $2/$4. When it comes to Omaha Hi/Lo, the situation is the same as with Fixed-Limit Hold’em.

Stud

Unfortunately, Stud appears to also be a dud. No tables are listed under this category.

WSOP.com NJ multi-table tournaments

This is where things get interesting at WSOP.com NJ. The site gives you access to a solid line-up of low-prize pool daily events, as well as recurring major MTTs. These aren’t as big as PokerStars’ Sunday Majors or Party/Borgata’s $40K guaranteed tournament, but in this case the quantity has a quality of its own.

Weekend Warriors

This series features over $100,000 in weekly cash game prizes. Buy-ins for individual events range from $30 to $500, but satellites can get as cheap as $1. A generic schedule would look something like this:

Friday:

6:00 PM – $10,000 The Ultimate Warrior

8:30 PM – $4,000 Lightning Warrior

Saturday:

5:00 PM – $5,000 Warriors’ Opening Strike

6:00 PM – $10,000 The Ultimate Warrior

8:30 PM – $4,000 Lightning Warrior

Sunday:

4:00 PM – $10,000 Warriors’ Opening Strike

6:00 PM – $40,000 The Ultimate Warrior

7:00 PM – $10,000 Fierce Warrior

8:30 PM – $4,000 Lightning Warrior

The BIG Deal

The BIG Deal is a monthly $500 buy-in tournament with a $30,000 guaranteed prize pool, hosted at 4 p.m. on the last Sunday of every month. The $5 super satellites for this event run at 6:15 p.m. daily, while $50 weekly satellites take-off on Sundays at 5:45 p.m.

Other poker offerings on WSOP.com NJ

WSOP.com NJ customers have access to the same STT options that can be found at 888poker. These tournaments aren’t extremely popular, but are still frequent enough to allow for fairly regular gameplay.

Sit & Go tournaments

Standard S&Gs are available for No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha, and Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo. Both Turbo and Super Turbo formats are supported, and buy-ins range from $1 to $10 for Hold’em and from $1 to $5 for Omaha. People tend to stick to 6-max and heads-up games.

Sit & Go Super-turbo BLAST tournaments

BLAST S&Gs are something WSOP.com NJ inherited from 888poker. These tournaments are played 4-max in a Super Turbo format.

What sets them apart from other SnG tournaments are the randomized prize pools, which can range from 2x the buy-in size, all the way up to a whopping 10,000x. However, the most likely multiplier falls in the 2x – 5x range.

Ticket prices range from $0.10 to $30.

WSOP.com NJ rewards program

WSOP.com NJ’s rewards program is known as the WSOP.com Action Club. It’s a volume-based cashback system. Players collect Action Player Points (APPs) to climb the loyalty ladder. Additionally, players can also acquire WSOP Points, which can be exchanged for cash.

Regarding APPs, these are accrued at a rate of two points per dollar paid in tournament fees or rake. On the other hand, the number of WSOP Points you earn is based on the number of APPs you’ve earned and a multiplier that’s tied to your loyalty level. Please note that you have to be Silver in order to start converting your WSOP Points to cash.

The loyalty ladder consists of eight monthly levels and two annual tiers:

Copper – 2 APPs/month

Copper Plus – 20 APPs/month

Bronze – 40 APPs/month

Bronze Plus – 100 APPs/month

Silver – 200 APPs/month – 4x multiplier (8% rakeback)

Gold – 400 APPs/month – 5x multiplier (10% rakeback)

Platinum – 1,200 APPs/month – 6x multiplier (12% rakeback)

Diamond – 3,500 APPs/month – 7.5x multiplier (15% rakeback)

Elite – 50,000 APPs/year – 10x multiplier (20% rakeback)

Seven Stars – 250,000 APPs/year – 17.5x multiplier (35% rakeback)

Keep in mind that the current size of the WSOP.com/888 player pool makes it almost impossible to reach Elite or Seven Stars status. However, if you play on a regular basis, securing a 10-15 percent rakeback deal shouldn’t be much of an issue. All things considered, this offer is pretty mediocre by New Jersey standards.

WSOP.com NJ deposit/withdrawal options

WSOP.com NJ gives you several banking methods to choose from – some more reliable than other ones. As a general rule, we recommend staying away from credit and debit card deposits, unless you’re planning to make a small deposit.

Deposits

Deposits are processed instantly, so if you use an e-wallet, you should be able to join the action as soon as you join the site.

Neteller or PayPal: Instant payment, can also be used to request withdrawals down the line.

ACH e-check: If you don’t have an e-wallet account, we recommend choosing this method instead.

MasterCardor Visa: As mentioned earlier, this method should be avoided, as the rejection rate of gambling-related transactions is very high. You won’t lose any money if your transaction is rejected, but keep in mind that refunds can take a while to process.

Online banking: Not available for all banks, so make sure your financial institution supports this method.

Casino cage: Load up your account by visiting Caesars Atlantic City and depositing cash at the casino cashier.

PayNearMe: Take a payslip to a New Jersey 7-Eleven convenience store. Straightforward, but not entirely hassle-free. Please bring a valid ID to confirm your identity.

Withdrawals

Some of the above deposit methods can also be used to request withdrawals:

Neteller and PayPal, but only if you used your e-wallet account to make a deposit

Casino cage

ACH e-check

You can also request a check by mail, but keep in mind that this might take up to seven days. Also, please note that all withdrawal requests have to be processed and confirmed by poker room staff. This typically takes 24 hours or less.

WSOP.com NJ support

WSOP.com NJ customer support can be reached via the following methods:

WSOP.com’s website also has an extensive Help Desk/FAQ section, which covers most of the basic issues pertaining to WSOP.com’s New Jersey offer, software, and games – just keep in mind that the website’s navigation isn’t very intuitive.

It’s also worth noting that WSOP.com’s NJ customers are free to use the WSOP.com forum. It’s not very active, but the site’s staff does visit it from time to time. However, if you’re looking for quick support, we definitely recommend e-mail.

Other WSOP.com NJ promotions

WSOP.com NJ isn’t big on flashy promotions, but Action Club members get to participate in plenty of regular freerolls instead. These freerolls range from standard MTTs that are available to all paying customers, to special events such as:

The Hero Freerolls, which are available exclusively to players serving in the Fire Department, Police, or the US Armed Forces.

The Senior Special tourneys, which are available only to players aged 50 and over.

Other than that, WSOP.com NJ has an ongoing Happy Hours promotion, which allows you to earn double the usual APPs whenever you play between 8 p.m. and 12 a.m.

Conclusion

WSOP.com NJ is a solid poker room for MTT players, but it doesn’t have much to offer to the old-fashioned multi-tabling cash game regular. Their excellent freerolls and decent cashback system give it an edge over 888poker NJ – on the flip side, the relatively low first deposit bonus can be a deterrent for more serious players.

Bottom line: recreational players will like it here, and professional tournament players should definitely sign-up, too.